Take your Bibles and turn with
me again to Isaiah chapter 26. Isaiah chapter 26. And tell this message a specific
day and a specific song. Scripture here says, in that
day, in a very specific day. shall this song, this specific
song, be sung. A specific day in a specific
song. And the song is this. We have
a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation which keepeth truth may enter in. Thou will keep him
in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he
trusteth in thee. Here we have this very specific
phrase again, we went over this last Sunday, in that day. In that day, I believe last time
I said 47 times, this specific phrase is used in the book of
Isaiah, but I read another place it was 53 times. Very much, but
each time you come to this phrase in the book of Isaiah, it is
dealing with the specific day of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the day of Jesus Christ. How important in the eyes of
God is the coming of His Son. That everything He says in His
Word points to that specific day. That specific time when
He would come into the world and save His people from their
sins. The whole book is centered around
that day. The whole book. The whole Word
of God. That day is when Jesus Christ
would come and fulfill all salvation for His people. That day, that
specific day, when He would come and fulfill all the types and
prophecies of Holy Scripture. Behold now, that day has come. That day has come. Jesus Christ has come and fulfilled
the covenant of God's grace for all his chosen people. All those
that the father loved in eternity and gave to the son, all that
the father purposed, their salvation, he trusted Christ to fulfill
it. In that day, he did accomplish
salvation. Salvation accomplished. And so
when Jesus came into the world as our representative man, as
our high priest, He had by Himself established all our righteousness
and redemption. What a glorious day. What a glorious
day. Christ by His own obedience established
our righteousness. Made it with His own hands. And by His blood He has forever
accomplished our redemption. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. I refer to this a lot because this
is a very, I think it's very concise. It describes the whole
counsel of God here. Look at verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. You understand that God provided
all those sacrifices and yet he's saying this. None of those
could take away sin. None of them were purposed to
take away sin. Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not but Christ
said a body that has prepared me And so if these offerings
could not satisfy God, what do you think your offerings would
do? And make a bunch of offerings to God. They say well, I'm doing
this for God. I'm gonna do this for God. I
Know some people that are doing good things. I Nothing wrong
with what they're doing. I know some nurses and doctors,
they say, well I'm doing the work of God. No doubt you're fulfilling exactly
what God determined you to do, but your offering is not enough.
Your sacrifice and your good works are not enough. Go ahead
and take them if you want. God said sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not. I don't want it. Why? It don't satisfy. Well, what
does? Listen to what the Son of God
said. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it
is written to me. It's just what I told you. The
whole thing's about Him. The volume of the book is written
to me. To do thy will, O God. What is the will of God? What
was the will of God He was to do? He said, Above and sacrifice
and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest
not neither had pleasure therein. which are offered by the law,
then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. He taketh away the
old covenant by fulfilling it. You can't disannul the old covenant
of God without fulfilling it. That's what he did. He established
it in righteousness and in judgment. He established the old law. And he says this, by the witch
will, by the will of God. By the will of God, we are sanctified. Oh, it's wonderful. You are saved
this morning. I want you to know this. You
are sanctified by the will of God. Isn't that good? That's
good. Through what? The offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Therefore, now seeing
Jesus in that day, once for all, in that day, once for all, forever
satisfied the justice of God for His people, forever. He justified
us. He sanctified us. He accomplished
our righteousness by His offering and obedience. Well, in that
day, who did he do this for? Look at your text. In that day
shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. In the land of Judah. Now we
know this, that in the Old Testament, the people of Judah, the people
of Israel, were always a type. Just like the Lamb was a type
of Christ. Just like the high priest, was
a type of Christ. Just like the tabernacle was
a type of Christ. The Jewish people, the chosen
people of God, were a type of the elect of God. What they were
for. Judah is always pictured as the
elect, the whole church of God. And so now that day was accomplished
for Judah for this purpose. Listen, that specific day was
that Judah should sing a very specific song. That Judah, the elect, should
sing a specific song. I like that, when it says, and
in that day shall this song. In that day this song is going
to be sung. Let's go over the song. Here's
the first part of it. We have a strong City, everyone
who is born of the spirit of God and trust in Christ, we were
given to Christ and we were put in Christ. And so then we who
are in Christ, we rejoice and praise God because he has purposed,
decreed and willed to give us the kingdom of God. always the
will of God to give you the kingdom. Jesus says to his elect, it is
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Abraham,
he sought a city, didn't he, whose builder and maker is God.
And it is this city that God has purposed to give you. Remember, He tells His sheep
in the end. He said, Come, you loved and
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from before the foundation of the world. This strong city,
to you who believe, this strong city is yours. We speak of a
strong city. It has the idea of safety, protection. He speaks of bulwarks. He speaks of walls. These things
have a sense of security. I want you this morning, if you
are in Christ, to know how safe you are. I really want you to
know how safe you are. You're in a strong city. You that believe in Christ, I
know this. In this world we are like sheep
among wolves. We're surrounded by many enemies. Many enemies. The world is filled
with darkness, trouble, and sin. We are often oppressed and hated
and persecuted. This vain religious world is
opposed to the gospel we preach. Our flesh even within our own
cells is constantly seeking to pull us from Christ. We are surrounded by enemies
and they're too strong for us. We have no strength to overcome
our enemies. And though we were chosen of
God, and in that day forever redeemed, though we were now
given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, given us life and faith,
yet we are not exempt from suffering. Have you found that out? You
who believe? Is that not true? Do we not suffer? I tell you this, I know this,
we suffer the common pains that every man suffers, and yet more
than that, we have spiritual pains. spiritual troubles and
difficulties. But in the midst of our sorrows,
when all appears dark and the promises of God are not felt,
you experience that. How often do you feel his presence? But in those times when the darkness
and pain are so great, let this song be sung. You are in a strong
city. If we were to continually look
back at that day, look and see that we dwell as citizens in
Christ, whose walls and bulwarks are not made of brick and stone,
our defense and protection is not built by man, nor is it merited
by us. Our salvation is appointed of
God. And what he says, look, you have
a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Our salvation was appointed by
God and purchased by his son. Look at what David says in Psalm
48 about this city. Psalm 48 and verse 1. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised, where? In the city of our God, in the
mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great
king. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. Consider this, you who believe
in Christ, you dwell in the holiness of Christ. You are surrounded One thing
about Jerusalem was it's just a magnificent city. Zion was
surrounded by mountains. It was a natural defense. They
couldn't overcome. There was only one way in and
one way out. What a picture of this, of the
Gospel, isn't it? There's only one way in, Christ! There's no other way to come
in. You can't dig under it. You can't jump over it. all the
way in. That's a beautiful situation,
isn't it? I want you to see that God is
your refuge. I want you to see God is not
just physical mountains, God himself is your refuge. Are you in Christ? God's your refuge. Therefore, none of our foes can
reach us. If they kill this body, what
have they done? That's the worst they can do. Have they separated you from
God? Has God ceased to be your refuge if they take this body?
No. They've done nothing. They can't
reach you. No accusations of men or Satan
will assail the walls of Christ's blood and righteousness. Not even the wrath of God will
touch one of his people. You want to know why? Because
Christ has already satisfied the wrath of God for you. He's
already paid it. Matter of fact, the justice of
God welcomes you, welcomes you into this city. It receives us with open arms
because of our union with Jesus Christ. Therefore, behold the
beautiful situation of us in Christ. We are accepted in the
beloved. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6,
you are accepted. in the beloved. Romans 8, 1,
there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
See the refuge? You see how strong the city is?
Not one accusation shall make it to the ears of my God, because
Christ ever lives to make intercession for me. You know who has God's
ear? Christ. My favorite illustration, you
know it, I say it a lot, is that high priest, Joshua, standing
there in those filthy garments, Satan ready to accuse him, and
you know what Satan says? Nothing. Before he could speak,
the angel of the Lord said, shut up. Is not this one a brand plucked
from the burning? I take the filthy garments off
of him and give him a robe of righteousness and put a crown
on his head. And you know what the high priest
did? He stood by to make sure it happened. You got a strong
refuge, friend. You got a strong refuge. Paul
said, I am persuaded. I am persuaded, are you persuaded,
that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things to come, present nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, and just like Caesar, I missed it, any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God that
is in Christ Jesus who is going to take you out of this strong
city. This thought comforts me. In order to remove me, they would
have to remove Christ. Anybody would want to try that? They all failed. This is a strong
city appointed by God. You believe on Jesus Christ.
Do you believe on Christ even now? Do you trust in Christ? And I mean, what I mean by this
is do you trust Christ without mixture of any work that you
have done? There are thousands of millions
and millions of people who trust Christ plus something. That's not trusting Christ. To believe on Christ is to absolutely
surrender all to the full salvation of Jesus Christ. All my salvation. He is all my wisdom. He is all my righteousness. He
is all my sanctification. He is all my redemption. That's
faith in Christ. If you have faith in Christ,
you may sing this song confidently. We have a strong city. A strong
city. And salvation will God appoint
for walls and bulwarks. God is our refuge. Christ is
all our salvation. I want to speak to you who are
outside Christ. The text now turns from those
who are in the city. The song is now sung of those
who are in the city. We have a strong city. Salvation
is our walls. Salvation is our bulwark. But
here is a word to those outside. Listen to what it says in verse
2. Open ye the gates. that the righteous nation which
keepeth the truth may enter in. Open ye the gates. I know this, the Bible plainly
declares that God has a chosen people. I remember one time Brother Donna
went to seminary and they forbid him to use the word predestinated. They hated elections so much,
they decided just to omit the word. And then he went to every
scripture where predestinated was, and he just, he said, blank. Wasn't allowed to say it. I don't understand why people
hate election. If there was no election, there
would be no salvation. It wouldn't be. I think men think
too highly of themselves. I think they got more power than
they got. They don't got any. No, Bible plainly declares that
God has an elect people. He has given them to Christ and
He is their surety and He redeemed all of His elect in that day. In that day He did save everyone
the Father gave Him. We rejoice that none of those
elect shall be lost. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the will of him that sent me, that of all he hath
given me I should lose nothing. Now listen. If one person is in hell for
whom Christ died, then Jesus is a liar. He said, I'm not going to lose
any. If he lost one, is it going to be true? He didn't lose any. He never lost any. He saved them
all. But I want you to see that the
nature of the elect is no different than the nature of those hated
by God. When we were born in this world,
there was no difference. You that believe, that scripture
rings in my ears. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? You see, my election was not
based on anything in me, because I was no different than anyone
else. I was just as vile as anyone else. But I know this, all that
are not chosen of God will remain dead. All those who are not chosen
of God will remain dead in their sins. Look back at your text
at verse 14. Look at this. They are dead. They shall not live. They are
deceased. They shall not rise. Therefore
hast thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory
to perish. But what will God do for His
elect? This is the difference, they will not remain dead. The
dead who are not chosen of God will remain dead. But those that
are chosen of God will not remain dead. This also thrills my heart
to know this. The church of God is always full. You got that? The church of God. When I'm talking about the spiritual
church of God, I'm not talking about this physical church. There
are many of God's elect people that are not in this building.
Many of God's elect people are probably not in any building.
Does that really matter? No. Because the church is not
made up of a building. It's made up of the elect of
God, those that believe in Christ. They are the church of God and
it's always full. But all God's people will receive
life from the dead. Look at verse 19. Notice what
he says. Thy dead men shall live. Together with my dead body. shall they arise. Can you not hear the voice of
Christ? The voice of the Father to Christ? This is the voice
of the Father. Listen to what he says. Thy dead
shall live. The ones I gave you, they will
live. They shall live. And herein is how they shall
live, because they are quickened together with his dead body. Now what it says? Thy dead men
shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. And that is exactly what Paul
says in Galatians 2. I am crucified with Christ. Now Paul was standing right there,
but he makes this very bold statement, when Christ was crucified, I
was crucified. I was in him. I was in union
with him. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In the life that I now live, I live in the flesh. I
live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. You see, we were crucified with
Christ. But not only this, we were raised from the dead because
we were raised in Him. When He rose again, I rose again. What Paul says in Romans chapter
2 and verse 4, it says, But God, who is rich in mercy for His
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are
saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit in heavenly places
in Christ. By the riches of his grace, by
the union, our union with Jesus Christ, I know this, every dead
elect sinner will be given life. Every one of them. Therefore in the ages to come
at the appointed time He will call and He will quicken His
elect. Now go back to your text and
look at the experience then of everyone who is called of God. In Isaiah 26 verse 5 it says,
For He bringeth down them that dwell on high, the lofty city,
He layeth it low, He layeth it low, even to the ground. He bringeth
it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down
even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy. The way
of the just is uprightness. Thou most upright dost way the
path of the just. What is this saying? Everyone
that God saves is going to destroy you first. He's going to bring
your high and lofty opinions and thoughts of yourself to the
dust. You that believe, you know that's
just so. That's our experience, isn't
it? We thought really high of ourselves until God spoke. And when God spoke, He put us
in the dust. He showed us that we are the
poor, we are the needy, we are the beggar in the dunghill. What
God does to everyone, He saves. He brings us to the end of ourselves,
to know our dead estate and our need of life. And then what? God raises us up and raises us up to see that Christ
is our only hope. And so we in our trouble in verse
16 through 18, we see the cry then of those that are afflicted.
When God makes you to, Joseph Hart said this, a sinner is a
sacred thing, for the Holy Ghost hath made him one. You're never
going to be a sinner until God truly reveals what you are by
nature. I preached a message a long time
ago called True Lepers, True Lepers. You know, Only true lepers can be healed of leprosy. If
you're not a real leper, then there really is no miraculous
thing, is there? Only true sinners are saved. Only those who have nothing. I have nothing to bring God.
I have nothing to give God. I have nothing which I can save
myself. There's no hope for me. Those are the people that God
quickens to life. Those who have nothing. True
sinners. And true sinners cry out to God. Look at verse 16. Lord, in trouble
have they visited thee. They poured out prayer when thy
chastening hand was upon them. Like a woman with child that
draweth near to the time of delivery is in pain and crieth out in
her pangs, so that we have been, so have we been in thy sight,
O Lord. We have been with child. We have been in pain. We have,
as it were, brought forth wind. Now imagine this, a pregnant
woman. She's ready to deliver, and all she delivers is wind. All the pain is for nothing. Don't you see that all of your
efforts are for nothing? All of your pains are for nothing. Your works are for nothing. You
go through misery and you produce nothing. That's what we cry. I can produce nothing. I can't
bring myself to give myself life. But then comes that hope in verse
19, that thy dead shall live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise, awake and sing, you that dwell in the dust. You dwell
in the dust? For God brings his people. For
thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out
the dead. The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live, shall live. And so Christ says this,
come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut the door about
thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for
a little moment, until indignation be overpassed. O sinner, listen,
the gate is open. You know, election never stopped
anyone from coming to Christ. I told you, if there were no
election, no one would come to Christ. But because there is,
some will. I don't know who they are. Do
you? I have no clue. Told you this before. I'm kind
of repeating myself, don't I? Persians said that one time,
a man come and said, look, well, if all of the elect are going
to be saved, then why don't you just preach to them? He said,
sir, if you would kindly point out the elect, I will only preach
to them. I don't know who they are. That's why the scripture
here says, open the gate, open the gates, that the righteous
nation which keepeth truth may enter in. What is that? That
everyone who believes in Christ may enter in and sing this specific
song. We have a strong city. Salvation
appointed by God as walls and boards. We have a strong city. He says, come, enter into thy
chambers and shut thy doors about thee. When I read that, I thought
of Noah. Remember Noah? He prepared that
ark. When they had entered in, God
shut the door. I imagine that all of those people
were mocking him. Look, he's trapped. He's trapped in there. That must
feel like a prison. People say that about Christians.
They say, it must feel like a prison being in there. No, no, it's
a refuge. Noah was safe, everyone else
was damned. When we come to Christ, He shuts
us in. All who are in Christ are safe. And this last thing, I'll give
you this and close here. Verse 3, thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. because He trusteth
in thee. Now who is that speaking about?
Who in the world has ever kept their mind stayed on God? Who in the world has ever kept
their mind, just today, let's just go through the last 40 minutes
here, did you all keep your mind stayed on Christ? I didn't, and
I'm preaching. I know you didn't. It's not talking
about us. It's talking about Christ. Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee,
because he trusteth in thee. There's my hope. There's my hope
of peace right there, that Christ is all my peace. that his mind
was stayed on God and God, he made peace by his faith, by his
obedience. And here's his word to you, trust
you in the Lord forever. I know this, it is good that
our minds should be stayed on Christ. Would we not be more
at peace if our mind were stayed on him. If we would think about that
day often, I imagine we'd have a lot more peace. This was comforting to me. Well,
actually, I read this quote from Spurgeon, and after I read it,
I hated him. I hated him. Because it hit me right between
the eyes. I didn't like it one bit. He said this about faith, about
trusting. He said, there are two kinds
of people who are candidates for heaven, those who have little
faith and those who have much faith. Little faith will take
your souls to heaven, but much faith will bring heaven to us. The important thing is for us
to be living in heaven now in order to accomplish In order
for us to accomplish this, we must stop the sighs produced
by the various ifs of life and begin to face life as it is. Wouldn't that be more comforting
if we just face life as it is instead of how we want it to
be? Well, how is it? You believers,
how is life? Let us take life as it is, with
all its hurts and pains, because Jesus has said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. How is it with you? How is it
with you, you who believe? Say you to the righteous, it
shall be well with him. Say you to the righteous, it
shall be well. And I tell you, we would live
more in perfect peace if our mind were stayed on that. And
I say this, if you have not come to Christ, why we not come? I've just described to you a
very safe place, a very strong city in which not even the wrath
and justice of God may touch you. To enter in is simply to believe
on Christ alone. You know what, I know why you
won't come, because you don't need Christ. You don't need Him. I'll tell you this, the day he
comes and speaks to you, the day he says, live, you'll
have no other choice but to flee to Christ. I'm still fleeing. I'm still
coming to him. I have no other hope, no other
refuge. It's a good song, isn't it? Safe. Safe. Pray God bless this to
your hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and pour out your spirit as you please. Open the hearts
of your people, give them life and faith. I ask this in Christ's
name.